Bunch of Nothin'

The standard opening to nearly any conversation in the Midwest either involves the weather or 'whatcha been up to?'  I like to quote a favorite saying from my then five year old son.

Whatcha been up to?

Bunch of nothin'.  

And there you have it.

We read tons and tons of books.  I love it that we can go an entire day without watching tv and no one dies without it.  Kathryn's newest obsession is bursting into the bathroom when I am otherwise occupied puking and reading a nice book to make me feel oh so much better.

Laundry.  Oh my goodness there has been so much laundry.  We've had snow and rain this winter, which is nice (kinda?) but then it is just a constant battle with the mud and water and dirty clothes and filthy kids.  

Can you see her wet pants and muddy jacket? She's been in heaven.

The snows have been fun for the kids.  Great Grandma C has a perfect hill in her backyard for sledding and we took full advantage of it.  All the kids napped hard that afternoon after partaking in the fun!  

We also like to climb trees down at the creek.  John is quite the daredevil and I'd imagine by next year he'll be jumping off limbs into the water.  His first broken bone from two years ago will undoubtedly not be his only with all the risks he likes to take. 

On nice days we spend as much time outside as possible.  One fine afternoon we cleaned up the garden and pulled out all of last year's tomato and pepper cages.  I'm not sure just how much time we'll have for gardening this year, but we'll still plant something for the kids to have pride and ownership in.  They loved picking produce last year and it makes my heart swell to see them have pride in their work.  

On many of these long winter days we've walked over to visit Great Grandma C and spent lots of time at the piano.  Although she swears that she 'can't even play anymore, dear' she still never hits a wrong note and I've actually never seen her open either the book or the hymnal on her piano bench.  

I'd say she's doing just fine. 

Our kids are not normal, which is another blog post in and of itself.  But here's a little taste for you.  I'm glad we don't have neighbors, and I'm glad the men in our life don't seem to mind these odd little people that wander around the yard and sheds.  They have these old baseball helmets and on certain days decide it is imperative that they wear them.  Who am I to tell them no?  Safety first, that's our motto.  (Cue massive eye roll.)  

And in between chasing the kids around we find time for a little bit of this and that.  A little bit of bible study with a great group of ladies, a little bit of social media activism (follow Greenwood County Cattlewomen on Facebook and Instagram, please), a little bit of cooking, a little bit of working calves or being the gopher for the hubs, a little bit of bookwork, a little bit of woodworking, a little bit of grant writing, a little bit of baby prep work, and a lot of dang snap tests for cattle.  I feel like the female version of 'Jack of all trades, master of none'.  Like most, I just feel pulled in a million different directions each day and if I manage to cross one or two things off the list each day I feel like I've won the lottery.  

So there you go.  What have we been up to lately?  A bunch of nothin'.